Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Neerja

I have never
heard the name Neerja Bhanot before this movie was announced and
brought to my attention all those months ago. Learning the story of
this brave, brave young woman moved me greatly, and today I wouldn´t
hesitate to list her among the few people in history that we should
indeed be inspired by and remember. The tricky thing with
biographical movies is that they mostly rise and fall with the
abilities of their cast. The name of Sonam Kapoor did not fill me
with hope. But I was wrong. So go ahead and read below why I have no
qualms admitting it.

The greatest weapon and
strength of Neerja is not the direction, the performances, music or
camera work. It is the underlying fact of the events actually
happening in reality. This knowledge is with the viewer from the
first moment to the last, perhaps because of that, because one knows
how this ends, small details shown about Neerja are more poignant and
touching than perhaps they would be with a fictional character. There
is little to complain about when it comes to the technical aspects of
the film, everything seems apt and well executed. Things like winding
the tape with a pen, as well as Rajesh Khanna´s posters on the
closet doors are beautifully evoking the mood of the 80s.

What to say about Sonam
Kapoor as Neerja? I have so many reservations towards the girl as an
actress! And I am not going to praise her as "great" in
this film either. Because she wasn´t great. She literally became
Neerja on the screen. There wasn´t a single moment, a single scene
or second in which I would see Sonam Kapoor as herself (something she
does on regular basis in most of her other movies). There wasn´t any
dark, intense brooding, which so often accompanies "great"
performances of male actors, nor was there any passionate speech on
the injustice of the society (which marks "great" female
performances most of the time). Everything Sonam did as Neerja felt
natural, never over the top. Perhaps that is why her performance felt
real - with Neerja she was not creating a new, unknown character who
is made up. She could research an actual person, listen to and read
what others had to say. And she managed to slip into all that
seemingly effortlessly. She did a beautiful job, and I hope she
continues to surprise me. Her rapport with other actors, especially
Shabana Azmi, was delightful.

Neerja´s failure of a
marriage back story is very well edited into the main plot, showing
how previous experience has probably helped to shape her character
and influenced her decisions. From what I had managed to gather the
film is fairly accurate and that makes it even more painful. Perhaps
my only criticism would be about the movie´s length. When the
chaotic climax came I realized there was still over twenty minutes of
the footage left! And even though the scenes following seemed
important from the human point of view, I wouldn´t be as tolerant of
them had it, again, not been a true story. The effect of Neerja´s
violent death and deep horror and sorrow I felt over it was dilluted
bit by bit by everything that followed, including the Shabana Azmi
speech. I understand that was to be the actresses´ big moment in the
film, yet by the time she could wipe her tear I have lost my own. (Do
I seem heartless now?)

As a movie it works very
well. I guess it wouldn´t be too exciting for casual movie goers
craving a good thriller. But as a tribute it works wonderfully. And
everyone should know who Neerja Bhanot was.